102: Don't go showing off unless you know when and where it's safe.

Raidock and the others finally found Zaid and his group deep in the heart of the dangerous marshland.

That was when Solar, acting as their联络, began moving to make contact.

Suddenly, an unbelievable voice slammed into Solar’s ears.

It came from the very place they were about to charge into with all their resolve.

“Hear me! My soldiers! That is without a doubt the true master of this marsh! There’s no escape! Raise your swords! Fire up your hearts! Everything depends on this one battle! Charge!”

Solar, a ranger with a reputation for sharp hearing and pride in his senses, doubted his own abilities for the first time.

Then came the soldiers’ war cries.

“““OOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”””

They burst out from the roots of a blackened tree, charging headfirst into the massive eight-headed, eight-tailed hydra—recklessly, without thought.

Soral froze for a split second, stunned by the sheer madness of it all, then snapped his head around to Raidock.

“Raidock!”

Raidock flinched at the shout, muttered a curse, and immediately barked orders.

“Everyone except Shururu Team—charge the giant hydra! We’re getting them out!”

The combined adventurer and lizardman unit plunged into the eight-headed hydra, finally linking up with Zaid’s group.

Leaving the mysterious hydra to the joint force, Raidock, as commander, went straight to find Zaid.

“Zaid-sama! We’re here to rescue you!”

Raidock shouted.

Zaid, who’d just been yelling at the soldiers to charge, turned sharply—eyes wide open.

“What the hell are you lot doing here!?”

Raidock cursed inwardly—how dare they waste time with questions? He managed to swallow the insult.

“Lord Kyle sent me, Raidock, the adventurer, to rescue Lord Zaid! Withdraw your troops at once! We’ll handle that monster!”

He expected relief. Instead, Zaid’s face twisted with anger.

“What?! Lord Kyle’s?!...Damn it! Trying to buy my gratitude like that?! Disgusting!”

(What the hell is this old fool talking about?!)

Raidock almost yelled at himself for not screaming.

“…! Lord Kyle truly worried about Lord Zaid! Doesn’t matter! No time for talk! Get back now!”

“What?! You dare order me? A mere adventurer?”

The mixed force of adventurers and lizardmen had cut through in front of Zaid’s troops—barely any dead, but Raidock saw that this eight-headed hydra was still far too dangerous.

No time for idle talk with Zaid. He had to give orders to the unit right now. Yet the man acted like he couldn’t even understand.

Thanks to Jurala commanding in his place, the line held—so far. But as a lizardman, he couldn’t quite make the human adventurers work the way they should. The collapse was only a matter of time.

Actually, Jurala was damn good at handling command like this.

But not good enough for this moment.

(That damn hydra! Eight heads, and still too big! Too tough! And moves like a damn storm!)

He’d prepared himself since first seeing the black-veined forest. Still, this thing was no ordinary monster.

The only thing keeping me from panicking is that, unlike during the Cocatrice incident, these black plants don’t seem to be attracting swarms of monsters.

Raidock swallowed down a storm of emotions and barked at Zaid.

“That thing’s too dangerous! Pull back now!”

“Pull back… pull back? Me?!”

“This place is terrible! It’s fully Hydral territory! Fighting here is insane!”

He wanted to scream inwardly—there wasn’t even room to form a proper formation unless the trees thinned out.

Zaid roared with anger, but then suddenly turned his eyes toward the battle between the Hydral and the adventurers.

“…You’re Raidock, right? Help me take that thing down.”

“…Huh!?”

“From the looks of it, you’re not half bad. I’ll grant you permission to stand in my line. Cooperate.”

Raidock was left speechless at the sheer audacity of it.

“That big monster’s the lord of this swamp, I reckon. Don’t know the details, but dungeons and certain areas usually have a lord, right? So if we take it down, this swamp’ll be safe.”

Raidock reeled at Zaid’s words.

(That tone’s infuriating, but damn it—he’s right. That hydra’s definitely the lord of this swamp. Zaid’s got a point. Take down that hydra, the rest won’t be able to coordinate. But… )

“You said no time for questions! Stop yammering and fight!”

Zaid didn’t back down. Couldn’t knock him out and drag him off.

Raidock had no choice.

……gah! Soldiers, protect Lord Zaid! Adventurer squad, scatter! Faster than a dragon! Stick to long-range attacks—don’t close in until they’re spent! Lizardman squad, follow the adventurers! You’re our only hope in this swamp! Hold the line—protect them!

Raidock barked the orders instantly.

He grouped the useless soldiers with Zaid, used high-damage adventurers as firepower, and assigned the swamp-resistant Lizardmen to support them—just enough mobility to survive.

“Even with that massive frame, how fast can it move!”

He grunted, watching the hydra dart through the treacherous swamp like it owned the place.

Scattering forces meant some adventurers got knocked down, but their paired Lizardmen were there in an instant, pulling them back and slapping on Healing Potions. No one died—barely.

Would’ve been wiped out in one go if we’d stayed frozen like that.

The Hydra’s spread out too wide—can’t lock onto a single target, clearly frustrated.

(Only way out is to kill it now!)

Raidock clenched his orichalcum sword and charged straight into the eight-headed beast.

◆

Meanwhile, me? I was blissfully unaware of Raidock’s struggle, chilling with Maina.

Keeping an eye on her help, doing my own work.

……Oops, time to link up with Raidock. Hold on a sec, Maina.

Mm.

I settled her in the chair, then activated my communication device.

The device doesn’t work unless I send the signal—it eats too much mana otherwise.

The ring I handed to Professor Javir has the same ability as me, but since he won’t relay communication to the other members, we can safely exclude it.

It’s one-way from me, so I’ve set it to sync at fixed times.

This time of day, after breakfast, is when we’re supposed to connect.

I send a mental link request to Raidock, the leader of the exploration team, asking for permission to establish psychic contact.

That’s when it happened—right at the same moment.

A loud explosion came from the center of the marshland.

“What the hell!?”

I jump up, shielding Maina.

‘Craft! Can you hear me!?’

‘Raidock!?’

The mental link device—Raidock must’ve granted psychic access.

His sight, his sound, pours into my mind.

Unbelievable. I see trees everywhere, snapped and flattened, in complete ruin—right inside my head.

For a second, I thought it was Raidock’s doing—but even so, the scale was insane.

...Wait a second!

Look closer—scattered all over the ruined marsh, there are battered adventurers and lizardmen lying around, right?

“What happened!? Raidock!”

‘Guh… can you see it, Craft… that monster!’

Raidock’s vision shifts far off.

It’s obvious—the trees are down, and there’s a massive trail of destruction stretching ahead.

At the end of the wreckage, something black and huge stands there.

‘Damn it! Head that way! Run, Craft!’

“That’s what made that explosion sound…!”

Before Raidock’s glare stood a rampaging, massive hydra.

A hydra with eight heads and eight tails.

Tearing down trees, blasting adventurers aside, a black bulk charging straight ahead.

"Raidock!? You okay!?"

『Don’t worry about me! Some damn thing just started charging straight at us! Just run—now!』

I dimmed Raidock’s vision, boosted my own.

That way—the direction the loud noise came from. Massive trees cracking, falling.

No mistake! The eight-headed hydra’s heading this way!

"Raidock! I’m cutting! Get back on your own—now!"

『Yeah! Just run!』

The sound of trees crashing grew closer.

I grunted, cut the magic communicator, stood up, slung Maina over my shoulder.

"Uh?"

"Sorry! No time! Gotta meet up with Kyle and the others!"

"...Mm."

I tucked Maina under my arm like cargo, called out to the three Cassper sisters guarding us and Jitarou.

"Everyone! A hydra—dragon-sized—coming in!"

"Wait? Dragon-sized hydra?"

Eva tilts her head. Doesn’t seem to get it at all.

“You feel that? The crashing sound from inside’s getting closer!?”

“Isn’t it just Raidock-sama doing his thing?”

Shit!

The fact that the hydra isn’t even a real obstacle for us is turning into a trap!

They’re all underestimating it—just a hydra, right?

“Right now, we gotta regroup with Kyle—”

Then, with a thunderous crack, a section of the mangrove forest explodes outward. Broken branches, a torrent of water, flung into the air.

A wall of water erupts from the ground, lifting everything.

Beyond the curtain of spray, a massive hydra’s head slowly emerges.

“…too fast…”

Eight heads. A dragon-sized body. And it’s already here, moving with terrifying speed.

Slithering in with a wet, crawling sound, the massive eight-headed hydra cut through the middle of the camp like a blade.

At this point, Maina’s group and Kyle’s group were split apart.

Just to be safe, I’ll say it again.

Added a scene I forgot to write in chapter 98.

No problem if you skip it, but if you’re curious, go ahead.

The manga volume 1 comes out on November 12th!

It’s super fun—definitely check it out too!